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Falcons, Raiders off to hot start in regional
By DAN HINER
AUSTINTOWN
With the Division I regional track and field finals coming up on Friday, six local high schools tried to advance as many athletes as possible in the semifinals on Wednesday afternoon.
Warren Harding and host Austintown Fitch had successful performances.
Warren Harding finished second in the boys 4x100 meter relay and seventh in the girls 4x100 meter relay. Harding sophomore Kayron Adams also had the only first place finished by any local runner. Adams finished first in the boys 100-meter dash with a time of 10.91.
The finals will be run on Friday.
Adams said the first-place finish will be a confidence booster in the finals. He said he will do well if he just “runs his race.”
Harding head coach Charles Penny said Adams has been a product of coaching, a good work ethic and a willingness to learn. Penny said Adams ran an 11.87 in his first outdoor meet and shaved almost a full second off his time on Wednesday.
“Going into Friday, I think the expectations are obvious — go to state,” Penny said. “I don’t think there’s any other expectation. I mean you’re seeded No. 1 in the 100-meter dash in arguably one of the hardest regions in the state of Ohio, and I don’t think anything other than going to the state meet is acceptable.”
Fitch’s Ralph Fitzgerald also advanced to the 100-meter finals. Fitzgerald came in sixth with a time of 11.15.
The Falcons’ Alena Williams came in eighth during the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.78. Zach Krohn finished seventh in the hurdles after running 40.53.
Falcons’ head coach Seth Steiner said his team performed well but he believes there is room for improvement. He said there were a couple areas the team needs to clean up in the future.
“I definitely think there were some events that we performed well in, that we expected to perform well in. But there are definitely places where we can kind of point out and say we didn’t perform as well as we could have or should have,” Steiner said.
East High School sophomore Jahniya Bowers was the only Panther to qualify, but she reached the finals in the girls 100-meter and 200-meter dash. Bowers placed third in both events after posting times of 12.40 and 25.54.
Howland’s Ashley Bowker and George Beatty-Marsh also advanced to the finals. Bowker finished fourth in the girls 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.32 and Beatty-Marsh came in seventh after running 51.14 in the 400-meter dash.
Canfield only advanced in one event, but came in fourth in the 4x800 meter relays. Boardman has a qualifier after Jessica Knickerbocker came in eighth with a time of 15.38 in the girls 100-meter hurdles.
The finals for some field events took place, but only one local athlete advanced to state. Fitch’s Brent Fairbanks placed first in the discus (177-11).
“They started the meet off the right way by getting into the final. Both of them [set a personal record]. Brent with the regional title with 177, which is actually a 17-foot [personal record] for him,” Steiner said.
The remaining finals are Friday.